Black Sacrament: Cicero Love Story
by Roslyn the Rogue
Summary: A love story between one of my characters and Cicero. The main character is not in the first part, though one of my other characters is. It's rated M because I don't know how far I'll be taking this story.
1. Chapter 1

"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear." The bosmer tilted her head as she heard a young boy recite the chant. This must be Aventus Aretino, the boy that was rumored to be contacting the Dark Brotherhood. Renata, a beautiful bosmer with dark brown hair and golden eyes that had an unnatural glow, was not a member of the Dark Brotherhood. Her nightingale armor allowed her to blend into the shadows of the house. She had heard the rumor from a dunmer woman just outside the home and curiosity had gotten the better of her.

As Renata quietly located the boy, she heard him speak again. Aventus was stabbing an effigy of the poor soul he wanted dead. "Please...How long must I do this? I keep praying, Night Mother. Why won't you answer me?" Renata cleared her throat and the Aretino boy whipped around, dropping the dagger in his surprise. "It worked! I knew you'd come, I just knew it! I did the Black Sacrament, over and over. With the body and the...the things. And then you came! An assassin from the Dark Brotherhood!"

Silently, Renata looked at the boy and wondered what she should say. Lie and take the contract or tell him he was mistaken? As she opened her mouth to speak, he said, "You don't have to say anything. There's no need. You're here, so I know you'll accept my contract."  
"Why do you need an assassin, Aventus?"

Aventus looked at the floor for a moment, then looked Renata in the eye and murmured, "My mother, she...she died. I...I'm all alone now. So they sent me to that terrible orphanage in Riften. Honorhall." His voice sharped as he added, "The headmistress is an evil, cruel woman. They call her Grelod the Kind. But she's not kind. She's terrible. To all of us. So I ran away, and came home. And performed the Black Sacrament. Now you're here! And you can kill Grelod the Kind!"

Renata took a deep breath. Despite herself, she felt bad for the boy and had heard of how cruel Grelod was. Perhaps it was time someone taught that old hag a lesson. She needed to return to Riften anyways, so why not? "Very well, Aventus. I'll be back when Grelod the Kind is dead."

"Is the Listener alright?" The words jolted Renata out of her thoughts and she turned away from the Night Mother. Another member of the Dark Brotherhood, a jester named Cicero, was standing nearby. He was nibbling on a sweet roll and watching her with a concerned look on his face.

"I'm fine, Cicero. I was just thinking about my first contract, the one I stole. That Arentino boy promised to join the Dark Brotherhood after I killed that hag in Riften. Last time I was in Riften, I saw him and a couple of orphans playing some game. I wonder if he'll really join us..."

Nodding enthusiastically, Cicero said, "If he joins now, he could be quite the assassin when he's older."

"You could be right, Cicero. Maybe I'll send a couple of the Initiates to bring him here."

His eyes darkened as he asked, "Has Mother spoken today?"

Shaking her head, Renata looked back to the Night Mother. "It's been a long time since we've had so many contracts. Perhaps she'll speak when there aren't so many...I can't help feeling that something's wrong though."


	2. Chapter 2

A bright light and a chilling wind...This was all Selvinia Lex could feel and see before everything disappeared. It felt like only seconds had passed before she opened her eyes, but it could have been hours or days for all she knew. She had been in her home in the city of Cheydinhal, admiring a handful of beautiful gems she had taken from some house, when this strange event had occurred. The gems were still in her hand and she quickly pocketed them, also noticing that her steel dagger was still attached to her belt.

She had been a tavern girl in Cheydinhal up until a few weeks ago, bringing drinks and food to the patrons. Every now and then, she had practiced her thieving skills on them and had always gotten away with it. It wasn't like the pay was very good or anything, not to mention the hazards of dealing with a bunch of drunks. This had led her to quitting her job at the tavern to become a full time thief.

Shivering in the bitter cold, Selvinia slowly pulled herself to her feet and looked around. Though she had no idea where she was, it very obviously wasn't near her home. Maybe she was somewhere near Bruma? If so, a gem or two would hopefully be enough to get her some warmer clothes and back home. She was near a body of water, no doubt horribly cold if the ice in it was anything to go by, and a rocky area with a strange door. Her eyes widened as she remembered seeing a similar door. "One of the Black Doors..."

As she stared at the door, it opened and three people emerged. A young altmer male in red and black robes, a female bosmer with an intimidating golden gaze, and an imperial in a jester costume. The jester looked somewhat familiar, but she dismissed the thought. The altmer looked particularly excited to see her as he exclaimed, "I knew I'd be able to teleport someone to me, even someone random! If I can just master this, I'll be able to bring some of our targets to us!"

The jester clapped his hands and grinned. "Ooh, such fun! No one will be safe!" He suddenly narrowed his eyes and stared thoughtfully at Selvinia, as if deep in thought.

The bosmer glanced at the altmer and jester before looking back at Selvinia. "Yes, it is quite impressive, Valotar. Are you able to send her back?"

Valotar shook his head. "I don't have a spell for returning people yet. I'm sure I can figure one out though!"

"Listener? Cicero thinks he has seen this girl before...Perhaps at a tavern in Cheydinhal right before he came to Skyrim?"

The bosmer tilted her head slightly and Selvinia nodded, "I was working at a tavern in Cheydinhal up until recently. "

"Hm...Let's go inside and talk."

Silvenia stepped back as the bosmer moved toward her. "You're the Dark Brotherhood, aren't you?"

Grabbing Silvenia by the arm and pulling her forward, the bosmer said, "That is correct. I am Renata, the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood." Silvenia tried to pull away and made a move to grab her dagger, but Renata kept a tight grip on her arm and the jester stepped forward to grab her other arm.

Seeing the dagger on her belt, the jester pulled it away and smiled gleefully as he lightly drew it across her neck. She shivered, not just from the cold, as he exclaimed, "Off we go!"

They stopped in front of the door and a voice rasped, "What is life's greatest illusion?"

"Innocence, my brother."

The door opened as the voice welcomed them. As Renata and Cicero walked her through, Valotar ran ahead and Silvenia could hear him talking to someone else. They finally stopped in a large room where a few people waited, likely drawn to the room at the idea of a stranger among them. There were three children, including Valotar, and four other adults that she had not seen.

Her gaze travelled around the room before stopping at an open coffin where an old corpse was. Renata let go of Silvenia to stand before the coffin, almost looking as if she expected the corpse to start talking or something. As the silence dragged on for a few moments, Cicero whispered into her ear, "This is our dear, sweet, mother. Only the Listener can hear her voice!" He let go of her arm to clap his hands and added, "Mother must be speaking!"

Renata broke the silence with, "Yes, Mother." Turning to look at the group, she added, "Mother has decided the fate of our guest." The words sent a chill down through Silvenia and she held her breath, preparing to lunge for the dagger Cicero had taken from her. If nothing else, she would die fighting! "She is to be treated as our sister, but she is not allowed to leave the Sanctuary until further notice."


	3. Chapter 3

Silvenia let out a sigh of relief as the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, a bosmer named Renata, announced that she was to be treated as one of them. She couldn't just leave this place and return to her home, but at least the immediate danger was gone. She sent a silent thanks to Renata and the Night Mother for sparing her.

"So, what's your name?"

She tried to sound confident as she said, "I'm Silvenia Lex, a freelance thief from Cheydinhal. I'm not entirely sure how I got here or why, but apparently I was somehow teleported from my home by Valotar."

Renata nodded and smiled slightly, revealing oddly sharp teeth. "Welcome to the Dark Brotherhood, Silvenia. If you'd like to wear something a little more suited to the cold, we have some spare clothing you can use."

Though it was warmer inside, it was still quite a bit colder than what she was used to. "That would be great." Renata led her into a different room and found some armor for her to wear, the same kind of armor she had seen some of the others wearing. It was surprisingly comfortable, but she couldn't help noticing how Renata stared at her with interest as she changed clothes. Remembering the oddly sharp teeth she'd seen, she wondered if Renata might be a vampire or something like that. It was tempting to ask, but she kept quiet.

Returning to the previous room, she noticed that most of the others had gone somewhere else. Only a female khajiit with white fur and light green eyes, a male nord with eyes like chips of ice, and Cicero had stayed in the room. Cicero was speaking enthusiastically to them, "-and he says to the man, "That's not a horker! That's my wife!" He and the khajiit laughed as the nord rolled his eyes, then added, " Ah...I love that one..."

Nudging the nord, the khajiit asked, "What's the matter, Koritrom? Does this one hit a little too close to home?" As the nord shot them an icy glare, the khajiit suddenly noticed Silvenia and purred a welcome. "Greetings sister, I am Khiimba and this is Koritrom the Rotten." The nord turned his cold gaze on her, but muttered a quiet greeting as Khiimba asked, "You already know Cicero?"

"A little...He was in Cheydinhal and I guess we met."

Cicero nodded. "Almost certainly! Why else would Silvenia look so familiar? Before Cicero brought our Mother to Skyrim, he spent some time with the Cheydinhal chapter. I'll show you the rest of the Sanctuary, if you'd like." Before Silvenia could answer, he grabbed her wrist and led her away from Khiimba and Koritrom.

Everything seemed to pass by in a blur as Cicero showed her around the Sanctuary, pointing out but not going into the torture chamber, and introducing her to the other members that weren't out working on contracts. There was a redguard named Nazir that seemed to have a dislike of Cicero, a dunmer named Trayth that expressed annoyance with Valotar for his carelessness in magically dragging Silvenia all the way from Cheydinhal, a vampiric child that introduced herself as Babette, and a young boy named Aventus that had just recently joined the Dark Brotherhood. Aventus told her of how Renata had killed an old woman named Grelod the Kind before sending Koritrom and someone named Clera to bring him to the Sanctuary.

Though some of them weren't exactly friendly and seemed a little suspicious or uncomfortable with her being there, most of them were at least a little curious about her. The place wasn't as cozy as her home in Cheydinhal, but it certainly was much more interesting. If nothing else, she mostly felt safe around them because their leader had told them to treat her as one of them. Silently, she also admitted to herself that Cicero was cute. Intimidating and murderous, but she still found him oddly adorable. It was strange how someone in the Dark Brotherhood could be so cheerful. She had always thought of the Dark Brotherhood as a shadowy group that existed only to kill, one that wouldn't really have friendly or funny people in it.

He told her a bit about his role as Keeper of the Night Mother, fleeing to Skyrim, a broken wagon wheel, and how the survivors of the Falkreath chapter had moved to the Dawnstar Sanctuary. "So...Are there any other members, besides Clera?"

Cicero nodded. "We have another chapter in Embershard Mine. Our Listener has been very busy! She has been working toward opening other chapters, maybe even some outside of Skyrim. No more here though! Clera just left yesterday to stay at the Embershard Sanctuary. Even with the new bedrooms here, the other sanctuary is empty by comparison!" Even though they seemed to be alone, he lowered his voice to a whisper, "Cicero overheard her and Nazir arguing before she left. He seemed to think something was going on between her and someone else...It seems Nazir has a soft spot for her."

Silvenia giggled and whispered, "Or maybe a hard spot."

He stared at her for a moment, then grinned and clapped his hands. "Such fun! It seems Cicero has another friend, a funny one at that! Ah, but you're probably tired...So much to learn, right?"

Though she hadn't really thought about it, he was right. With all that had happened that day, especially the whole teleporting into Skyrim and being welcomed into the Dark Brotherhood, it really wasn't surprising. "Yeah, it's definitely been a strange day and I'm a long way from home..."

"Silly, Silvenia, you are at home! It may not be in Cheydinhal, but it is still home!" He pointed out the room where Renata slept, then they entered a room with several beds and he showed her the one she could sleep in. "You can sleep here!"

She sat down on the edge of the bed with a small sigh, hardly noticing as Cicero sat next to her, and reached down to take off her boots. If nothing else, she would stay the night or until she saw an opportunity to escape. Just as she was about to thank Cicero for showing her around and introducing her to everyone, she was startled by a gloved hand playing with her hair. Silvenia quickly sat up, blushing slightly as she realized his face was now less than an inch from her own. He smiled softly at her, but his yellow eyes were intense, as he ran his hand along her cheek and asked, "Cicero will see you later?"

After a few moments of silence, she managed to nod. "Y-yes...Thank you, Cicero."

"You've been most helpful, Cicero, and the Night Mother is pleased." Silvenia flinched and Cicero pulled his hand away, standing up. Renata was in the hallway, probably on the way to her own room. Her eyes glittered with amusement and she had a smirk on her face as she added, "I was going to make sure you had a place to sleep, but I see Cicero has taken care of that. I'll be in my quarters, if anyone needs me." Renata turned away from the door and carried on to her room, leaving them alone. Cicero grinned and skipped out of the room, barely managing to avoid crashing into Valotar and Aventus as they sleepily trudged into the room.


End file.
